Presentation/Proposal Title
Considering Stakeholder (Mis)Perceptions of Writing Center Work
Type of Presentation/Proposal
Panel Discussion
Start Date
6-4-2019 10:00 AM
End Date
6-4-2019 11:00 AM
Keywords
WAC, theory, reflection, communities of practice
Description
Essays about faculty, student, and administrator misperceptions are nearly as old as Writing Center studies itself. Often these essays appear to assume that the problem is one of education or rhetoric (North, Pemberton, Harris, Corino). That is, if confronted with a clearer or more persuasive case for what writing center work is, stakeholders outside the center will adjust their perceptions in kind. This panel discusses alternatives ways to examine perceptions regarding the center’s purpose and work.
Speaker One argues that rather than regarding misperceptions through an educational or rhetorical lens, Writing Center representatives need to consider the issue as largely ideological. Accordingly, simply advocating in terms of education or rhetoric can actually lead to an entrenchment of beliefs counter to writing center practices. This Speaker thus considers what an ideological lens informed by scholars such as Jacques Lacan, Thomas Rickert, and Marshall Alcorn can offer Writing Centers in terms of faculty outreach.
Speaker Two will consider the concept of perceptions/misperceptions by reflecting on her experiences during her first semester as acting Writing Center director. She will discuss how she and her staff navigated the resignation of two tutors (out of a staff of four), and how this as well as nudging from administrators, prompted her and her staff to reflect on their own perceptions of the center, including the center’s role at the college and the center’s mission and values. She will examine the role of self-perception in communicating a center’s mission and values to stakeholders outside the center.
Considering Stakeholder (Mis)Perceptions of Writing Center Work
M2300
Essays about faculty, student, and administrator misperceptions are nearly as old as Writing Center studies itself. Often these essays appear to assume that the problem is one of education or rhetoric (North, Pemberton, Harris, Corino). That is, if confronted with a clearer or more persuasive case for what writing center work is, stakeholders outside the center will adjust their perceptions in kind. This panel discusses alternatives ways to examine perceptions regarding the center’s purpose and work.
Speaker One argues that rather than regarding misperceptions through an educational or rhetorical lens, Writing Center representatives need to consider the issue as largely ideological. Accordingly, simply advocating in terms of education or rhetoric can actually lead to an entrenchment of beliefs counter to writing center practices. This Speaker thus considers what an ideological lens informed by scholars such as Jacques Lacan, Thomas Rickert, and Marshall Alcorn can offer Writing Centers in terms of faculty outreach.
Speaker Two will consider the concept of perceptions/misperceptions by reflecting on her experiences during her first semester as acting Writing Center director. She will discuss how she and her staff navigated the resignation of two tutors (out of a staff of four), and how this as well as nudging from administrators, prompted her and her staff to reflect on their own perceptions of the center, including the center’s role at the college and the center’s mission and values. She will examine the role of self-perception in communicating a center’s mission and values to stakeholders outside the center.
